Which one of the following is not a component of progressive education?

Progressive education, developed by thinkers such as John Dewey, treats the learner as an active participant: understanding is built through real experience, hands-on experimentation, discussion, and interaction with the environment and with peers, not through passively absorbing pre-set content.

Applying this to the options given: exchanging and testing ideas with others, trying things out directly, and engaging with peers and materials all fit this active, experience-driven model. Repeating and retaining fixed information without any accompanying activity or inquiry does not fit this model at all; it belongs to traditional, teacher-centred instruction instead.

• Discussion — learners actively exchange and refine ideas together, a hallmark progressive technique.

• Experimentation — learners test and verify ideas through direct, hands-on activity (“learning by doing”).

• Interaction — learners engage with peers, teachers, and their environment, the social core of progressive classrooms.

• Memorization — learners passively repeat and retain fixed content with no activity or inquiry involved, the rote technique progressive education moves away from.

Since three of the options are recognised progressive-education techniques and one is a rote, passive technique, Memorization is the one that is not a component of progressive education.